State approves Hooligan PA

The state has formed a Hooligan participating area at the Northstar unit.

The participating area changes the administrative status of production from the Kuparuk formation at the North Slope unit. The formation began producing on a tract basis in 2006 and had been in sustained production since 2010, according to the state. The participating area includes four state and two federal leases covering some 7,656 acres.

The participating area was approved retroactive to January 2006.

The application took several years to process. During that time, operator BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. sold the Northstar unit to Hilcorp Alaska LLC, which is now the operator.

Northstar straddles the boundary between state and federal waters north of Point Storkerson, which means that the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement both have oversight over the unit.

BP applied to form the Hooligan participating area in late June 2012 on leases currently within the unit and leases the company proposed to add to the unit. The BSEE approved the participating area in February 2014. The state approved the unit expansion in October 2014. BP and its minority partner Murphy Exploration (Alaska) Inc. transferred their interests in the leases to Hilcorp in November and December 2014, respectively.

The Hooligan participating area joins the Northstar participating area, which state and federal officials formed in 2002 and the federal Fido participating area, formed in 2012.

- Eric Lidji